Contagious
by BeachBabe123
Summary: The Goal: To create the perfect planet. The Plan: Eradicate weakness in the dominant species. The Means: A bio weapon that will only leave the strong. Previous Attempts: 4. Current Planet: Earth. Obstacles to Success: The MBC. But it's hard to fight what you can't see, let alone control it. Will the team be able to contain the strain, or will they too fall? Rated T just cause.
1. Ch 1: Triple Play

**Hi readers! I'm back again with yet another fanfic! And I would just like to say before we begin, I've had what some might call 'fun' coming up with this story. I went into it with a few little tidbits of ideas, and then had to pull something together out of them. **

**As for HERO… still not sure what to do with that. I just haven't been interested in continuing it… We'll see what happens when summer gets here. Fingers crossed that I'll actually find some inspiration. **

**Now, a little about this story. I debated for a long time about making my next story a sequel to ALL I EVER WANTED, and I have a decent idea for that. But after some time of going over that idea, I wasn't sure if I liked it. So keep on the look out for that one in the future!**

**I had a hard time finding a song name to use as a title for this one. So in the end, the song is by Avril Leveign,(please forgive spelling), but the song has nothing to do with the story except for the title. Yeah.**

**So, without any further babbling on my part, I give you the first chapter of Contagious!**

**P.S. Disclaimer: I do not own the MBC. All I own are original characters. **

**Danny's POV**

_Okay, something is definitely wrong here,_ I thought. Usually, this is something that I would say out loud, but I really don't know if that's the best idea right now. A few minutes ago, the alarm that signals an alien attack went off. Naturally, the rest of the MBC and I ran to see what the problem was. But by the time we got to the source of the signal, nothing was there. Nothing was even showing up on the A-scan. But the alarm hadn't deactivated yet.

"This doesn't make any sense," Cathy whispered from about two feet behind me. I could tell that she was looking to what was my right by the way her voice echoed around the four of us. We were walking through a nearly pitch dark, abandoned factory on the edge of Single Town. For some odd reason, whoever built this place has decided that windows were a terrible idea. The only reason that the building wasn't completely submerged in darkness was the emergency lights shining here and there. Once again, something is terribly wrong here.

"No, it actually makes some sense if you think about it," I said in a voice equally as quiet as Cathy's. "It's hiding from us. It knows that we know that it's in here somewhere. But it wants to play with us a little bit. What's the fun in jumping on the enemy as soon as they enter your hideout?"

"Well, the enemy sure would be less freaked out if they did that," Cathy replied honestly. And she was right. Even I was freaked at this point.

"So how long do you think this little 'game' will last," Sam asked, emphasizing the word 'game'.

"Until the alien gets tired I guess," Chris answered.

"Or until we're right where it wants us," I offered another answer, trying to sound like one of those creepy dudes from the horror films.

"Danny! Don't do that!" Cathy cried quietly. "We're already scared enough as it is!" And that's when we heard the first noise. It wasn't a normal everyday noise either. It sounded like nails scraping a chalkboard.

"I think our game is coming to a close," Chris said so quietly that I wasn't even sure that he'd spoken at all. Another nails on a chalkboard noise sounded, closer this time.

"It's too dark in here! We'll never be able to fight what we can't see!" Cathy exclaimed, trying really hard to keep her voice down. I honestly didn't see the point in keeping our voices down anymore. It already knew where we were. What was the point in trying to be sneaky?

"We'll be fine. We've got the emergency lights," Sam replied, pointing to the wall where one of the lights was glowing bright. It was a small light, but at least it was something. I could hear a small hint of fear behind her words. Gosh, why were we all so afraid of this alien? We'd never been this scared to fight anything in the past. Why was this one any different?

The chalkboard noise sounded again and with it came a low growl. Both were dangerously close.

"Any guesses on what our friend's gonna look like?" I asked, trying to hide the fact that I was literally scared out of my mind.

"Why don't you ask them yourself!" Chris exclaimed, pointing up to one of the pipes running along the ceiling of the factory. Sitting between the pipe and the ceiling was a dark figure, hidden by the shadows. Actually, I don't think it was actually sitting. It was in more of a crouched position, just waiting to jump down on us.

And when would be the best time to jump on us? Hmmm, how about right now?

"Shoot it!" Sam cried as the creature hurled itself from its hiding spot and landed in the middle of our little circle. In all honesty, it looked like a werewolf. (And not the Twilight kind! More like the one from Harry Potter. Only with black fur and less of a hunch in its back.)

"What is it?" I asked, while pulling out my blaster.

"We'll look it up later," Chris replied, testing a freeze ray on the beast. No such luck. The creature just gave an agitated roar. I guess its fur was weather resistant.

"Yeah. But for right now, just attack it before it attacks you!" Sam cried, backing away from the creature while shooting it with her blaster. The creature growled again as it was hit with the blasts. It kept moving its gaze around to whomever had shot it last. And did that thing ever have creepy eyes. Those solid red orbs were that kind that you would imagine staring at you from your closet at night! (And that's why my closet door is staying closed every night from now on!)

"I don't think it's working!" Cathy called after a few minutes. "It just looks confused and a little more than really angry!"

"Don't stop!" Sam instructed. "We'll weaken it eventually!"

Just then, the creature leapt out of our circle over Sam's head and ran at the small box that held some type of controls. It slashed the box open, effectively putting out every single source of light in the area. I guess that controlled the emergency lights. Shoot.

"You can't fight what you can't see," an eerie voice that had to belong to the creature said, sounding pretty pleased with itself. I guessed it must have heard Cathy earlier. And judging by the audible gasp from Cathy's general direction, she must have realized that it had heard her too.

"Who are you and why are you here?" I heard Sam cry in the darkness.

"Vasilis is Vasilis' name," the creature replied in third person. Oh great, he's one of _those_ aliens. "And Vasilis is here as a scout for his master."

"Who's your master?" Sam asked.

"Why should Vasilis tell you that? You are the enemy," Vasilis growled. "You are nothing but pieces in master's game. Pieces in Vasilis' game now!" I really don't like where this is going. Every time the wolf man spoke, his voice echoed from a new position. That last comment was dangerously close to my left shoulder.

"Don't count on it," Cathy spoke up, trying very hard to hide her fear.

"Are you not the one that said that you couldn't fight what you couldn't see?" Vasilis said with a tone that could only mean that he was about to pull something on us. And sure enough, within a minute, all four of us were on the floor, defenseless.

"How did you…" Chris began asking.

"Vasilis is a nocturnal creature," Vasilis answered before Chris had actually asked the question. "And now Vasilis can call master and hand the enemy over to master."

"As I said before, don't count on it," Cathy said, actual confidence in her voice this time. I don't actually know what happened, but I heard Vasilis scream, then growl, and then Cathy yelled: "RUN!"

So naturally, Sam, Chris, and I got up and ran in the direction that we heard Cathy's footsteps running. Vasilis roared behind us and it wasn't long until we heard the sound of him chasing after us. And chances were good that he was fast.

"Chris, get the vacuvator ready. I think that's our only option left," Sam instructed.

"Got it," Chris replied.

"We're almost out!" Cathy cried. And she was right; I could see the exit and the pale light of the afternoon, which had been drearily cloudy all day. It was just enough light for Chris to be able to get a clear shot of our little 'friend.'

"Cathy, Danny, just get outside. I'm coming with you. Chris, as soon as you get outside, turn around and shoot," Sam instructed. Man, she is so good at coming up with plans when we really need her to. You can always count on Sam when you need help. Always.

"Got it," the three of us replied as we finally reached the doorway. Cathy, Sam, and I raced out and onto the grassy field in front of the factory. Chris turned around, ready to pull the trigger on the vacuvator, but Vasilis was closer behind us than we'd predicted.

"NO! YOU WILL NOT GET AWAY!" Vasilis roared as he bounded out of the door, leaping into the air. He landed somewhere in between Chris and the three of us. "Master wants you! So master will have you!"

"Not today," Chris said and shot the vacuvator at Vasilis. A blue beam of light caught the creature and pulled him into the little container.

"Well that was close," I said. "I wonder who this 'master' is."

"There's only one way to find out," Sam said in reply, watching intently as the wolf creature beat against the glass of the container, trying to escape. "Let's do some background research on our little friend Vasilis here and see what we can find."

"Good plan," Cathy began, but was cut off by her v-com beeping angrily. All four of us stared at each other. Two missions in one night were rare. Two missions in the same night right in a row were just downright bizarre. Something was totally, way not right here.

"Signal's coming from the woods," Chris broke the silence, checking the readings on his v-com. "We should probably…"

"Yeah," Sam cut in, nodding her head. "Come one, guys. We can't let one little stunt freak us out. We have to go investigate that signal."

"Right!" Cathy agreed. "Nothing can stop us!" As if on cue, a fat raindrop landed right on her nose, causing the blonde to flinch. She looked up at the sky as another drop hit her cheek, and more started to fly at the rest of us. The clouds had started to grow darker, more threatening. Cathy looked back around. "Like I said, nothing can stop us! That includes rain!" In response, thunder rumbled from the sky.

"Come on guys. Let's just get over there and bust us an alien before Cathy gets us all struck by lightning," I said in reply. Chris and Sam both laughed as Cathy stuck her tongue out at me as I turned to start running for the forest.

As I ran, I realized that something was making my ankle sting. Really bad. I looked down to see a small cut exactly where the stinging was coming from. I must have cut it when Vasilis pushed me to the ground inside the factory. Or maybe while we were running out of the factory.

The rain started to pick up speed as we raced around the edge of town to the forest, so we wouldn't get caught in our MBC gear. There wasn't any point in changing as we transitioned between missions. As the trees came clearly into view, I could already see out target. He was really hard to miss: neon green skin with a yellow overcoat and some weird contraption on his head that was all sorts of colors. Thank goodness it had started raining, otherwise we probably would've run into civilian trouble.

"Is that our guy?" I asked, even though I already knew the answer.

"Yep," Chris answered, bringing the a-scan down. "Something tells me this isn't going to be anything like our last encounter."

"HUMANS OF EARTH, ATTENTION!" the alien called, his voice slightly drowned out by the wind that had joined the rain. "TO TAKE OVER YOUR PLANET, I AM NOT HERE FOR. TO RULE OVER YOU ALL, INSTEAD AM I HERE FOR!"

"Is it me, or is he using really odd word placement?" Cathy asked in a whisper as we approached the alien, blasters on standby. He smiled when he saw us. That didn't usually happen. Yet again, something was definitely off.

"Earth humans, greetings," he said, his orange irises flitting between the four of us. "Care to listen to my plan, do you?" We all exchanged a look. We could take this guy down in our sleep. Chris got out the vacuvator again.

"Sure, go for it," Sam said. The alien beamed and started twitching his fingers around in excitement.

"Take over the Earth, my master said. My mission is that. For master, I shall take over Earth," he began, nodding seriously. "To the Earth humans, I must deliver the message. This is my job, delivering messages at home. A hypnotist I am. And I shall take over the Earth, for master, with my hypno…" I grabbed the vacuvator from Chris and sucked the guy away.

"Danny!" Sam exclaimed.

"Oh come on! You can't honestly say that you wanted to hear anymore of his little spiel," I replied.

"Actually I did, because if you noticed, which you obviously didn't, he was also talking about a master like Vasilis was," Sam pointed out.

"Oh," was all I could think of to say. And now I felt stupid. Way to go, Jackson.

"It's alright, Danny. We'll try to look him up later when we look Vasilis up," Chris said in response. "There can't be too many intergalactic hypnotists floating around out there who are intent on taking over planets."

"You'd be surprised," Cathy commented, starting to walk back towards town. The rest of us followed after her. This second mission hadn't taken us very long, but it had been just long enough for the day to officially transition to twilight. The few rays of sun that had been desperately trying to fight through the clouds had given way to night, disguising the rain clouds with its darkness. But we all knew the clouds were still there; the rain itself hadn't disappeared.

Luckily, we were pretty close to the clubhouse.

Rushing inside, Sam disappeared to contain the two glass orbs with the villains inside as Chris started up the super computer to start doing some research on our little friends. The sting returned to my ankle and I moved over to the hover table, changing back into my real clothes.

Examining my ankle, I found a decent sized cut. It wasn't bleeding anymore, but it had been and had left a small trail of dried blood down my foot. It stung much more than a simply cut should have.

"Danny, what happened?" Cathy's voice asked. I looked up to find her watching my, worry evident in her crystal blue orbs as she stared at the injury.

"Oh this? Nothing but a battle scar," I shrugged it off. "I think I got it when Vasilis pushed us down in the factory, and I think something on the floor got into it because it really stings."

"Oh no!" the alien girl exclaimed, kneeling down to examine my injury closer. "Will you be okay?" I laughed.

"I'll be fine, Cath. It's just a little cut," I said reassuringly, smiling at her concern. "It's not gonna kill me." She smiled back at my joke.

"Ok, looks like our hypnotist goes by the name of Torpor, and he comes from the planet Rorin 5 where they actually do speak in that weird inverted English that he was speaking earlier," Chris said back to us, his eyes still focused on the screen. "I can't find anything about his line of work, other than the fact that he is a hypnotist. It says nothing about employers."

"Try looking up Vasilis," Sam suggested as she walked out of the containment room and moved closer to the blunette, whose fingers started flying over the keyboard again. Cathy and I made our way over to them as well, just as interested in learning more about the creepy alien. In a matter of seconds, the screen was filled with a digital file on the wolf like creature, picture and all.

"Anyone see anything about employment?" Sam asked, scanning the document closely.

"Nope," Chris replied.

"Nothing," Cathy shook her head.

"Surprisingly, I don't see anything either," I added sarcastically.

"Three strikes, and we're out," Sam sighed, placing her hands on her hips.

"Hey, don't get discouraged. If they're related in any way, I'm sure someone else will show up within a day or two trying to take over the earth for their master," Chris responded, turning away from the screen to face us. "If there is a master, he'll be mad that we foiled his first two scouts and definitely send more. It's natural evildoer protocol."

"I'd listen to him, he's good about these things," I added, nodding my head as though this were a very serious matter. Sam rolled her eyes at me and did her best not to laugh.

"All right, I'll believe you this time," she said. "And if you say that there's nothing more to do tonight, then…"

_BEEP! BEEP! BEEP! _

We all locked eyes as the signal went off again for the third time that night.

"You have got to be kidding me," I said with disbelief, staring up at the ceiling. "Again?!"

"Looks like it," Sam sighed, "Where to, Chris?"

"We've got another one at the old factory," the blunette answered, typing a mile a minute on the super computer. "And by the looks of it, there's more than one."

"Then let's get moving," Sam instructed, moving towards the tunnel to the pods. A large boom of thunder rumbled overheard. "And bring your umbrellas. We're gonna get wet."

**So, what do we think? Hopefully you readers liked it. I know that nothing really happened, but I promise that it's just setting up the rest of the story. I enjoy reading your thoughts, so please review. No flames, please. Constructive criticism is always welcome!**

**Just a little side note, language arts class has made me very sensitive to symbolism and foreshadowing this year. Just be aware of the little things… **

**Read on! =)**


	2. Ch 2: Brothers Stick By Each Other

**Chapter 2! Woo! **

**So, yeah. I don't really have much of a note to put here. Except for one quick point: for this story, the parents do not know about the MBC. I don't know if they actually do or not, but in this one, the parents of Danny, Chris, and Sam have no idea that their kids fight aliens. Just saying.**

**Also, I'm envisioning the characters as 14-15 year olds in ninth grade. Again, just saying.**

**And I'm sorry for the long break between chapters, I actually had this one written when the first one was published, but I wanted to get a jump on the next one before I published this one. Yeah, that didn't exactly happen and I will be out of range for the next couple of days so I apologize in advance for that wait, but I promise to get back on it as soon as I can!**

**And now, please enjoy the second chapter!  
**

**Chris' POV**

I tried my hardest not to slam the door as I came in from our third and final mission of the night. I wanted to make sure that the door was closed securely; you couldn't be careful enough after that last encounter. After I was sure that the door was closed tightly enough, I flipped the lock and moved to pry the soaking wet sneaker from my feet.

Yes, the alert had come from the factory, but it only took about ten minutes for the threat to pour out into the rain after we'd arrived. And this wasn't just a single, individual threat. No, this had been a swarm of mutated alien rats. They weren't very strong, and they weren't all that harmful, but their sheer numbers were all they needed to be a prominent threat. It took as at least two hours to contain them all. And I think it's safe to say that all four of us would be perfectly fine if we never saw another rat again for the rest of our lives.

Just as I pulled off my second sneaker, I heard footsteps from the hall just up the stairs. John's head peaked around the corner, a small smile lighting up his face.

"About time you got home," he said. "We were starting to get worried. Where were you? I thought you guys got the call at around six."

"We did, but then we got two more calls after that," I replied, glancing quickly around the hallway. "Where are Mom and Dad?"

"They're at a meeting for my school about a new online grading system or something," John explained. "What happened on your missions?"

"First, we faced a demonic werewolf thing named Vasilis who talked in third person. Second, we had a crazed hypnotist who spoke in a really inverted English. And third, we had a swarm of alien rats," I answered, wrapping my arms around myself as I moved towards the steps. I'd never realized how cold it was inside my house before. Maybe that's because I'm not thoroughly soaked on a regular basis. "We neutralized all three of them, but it was a real pain. And the first two both mentioned being sent by a master."

John nodded, thinking over my last statement as I walked up the stairs to join him. "Think they're connected?"

"Counting on it, but there's nothing we can do now," I said with a shrug. "We caught them, and they'll be on their way to the intergalactic prison soon."

"Good," John nodded again. That's when I caught the sight of blood on his wrist.

"John, what happened?" I asked, everything about the night dissolving into my memory. My brother glanced down at his wrist as if he hadn't known anything was there.

"I got caught by a branch during science today. We went in the woods behind the school to study the ecosystem back there," John explained, meeting my eyes with a reassuring smile. "It had stopped bleeding a little bit ago, so I took the band aid off, but I just scraped it against the corner of the counter top on accident and… yeah." I took ahold of John's arm gently, examining the cut closer. It didn't look too deep, just painful.

"Ok. Go wash it off and put another band aid on it," I instructed, carefully letting go of his arm. "We don't want that getting infected."

"Alright, but only if you go change into something that isn't soaked all the way through," John agreed. "We don't want _you_ getting infected." I rolled my eyes as John moved towards the hall closet to retrieve a bandage.

"That's a fair deal," I replied, moving off towards my room. I had planned to change anyway. Not that I didn't absolutely love shivering like it was the middle of January and I was stuck in the middle of a snow storm, with my wet clothes sticking to me and my hair falling my eyes. Because I completely enjoyed that feeling. Just kidding. All of that was sarcasm. Tonight had not been the best night.

"Do you think the rats were sent by the same master as the other two?" John's voice carried down the hall.

"Probably," I called back, prying my shirt off with some difficulty. "But I don't really have anything to prove it with."

"Sam will believe you," John responded. "All of them will."

"It's not really a question of if they'll believe me or not," I replied, pulling off my jeans and reaching for the sweatpants and t-shirt I conveniently hadn't put away yet. "It's more of a 'what if I'm actually wrong' sort of situation."

"I see," John said. He was quiet for a few moments, just enough time for me to pull the dry clothes on and reenter the hallway. As soon as I opened the door, John threw a towel at my face. I flinched, but caught it and set to work forcing my hair to dry. "How can you figure out if you're right?"

"Wait for a fourth attack and see if they're carrying on about a master," I answered, leaning against the doorframe. "Then maybe they'll reveal the identity of said master, and we can see if there's any connection."

"Sounds intriguing," John replied with an interested nod.

"I'll keep you posted," I said. "How's the wrist?"

"Fine," he answered, holding up the now bandaged wrist.

"Doesn't hurt?" I questioned.

"A little, but not too much. Only if I press on it," John answered. "Don't worry about it. I'll be fine. I'm more worried about you getting hypothermia." I laughed. "What?"

"John, there is no way that I could possibly get hypothermia from one night in the rain," I replied. "I wasn't submerged in freezing cold water, and I honestly didn't feel a temperature difference till I got inside. Plus it's the end of March. It's not even that cold out anymore."

"Chris, you're still shivering. I can see it from here," my little brother deadpanned, leaning on the wall next to the hall closet.

"I'm still wet," I said, pointing to my hair. "I'm gonna be fine, John. Don't worry about me." He didn't seem convinced. "Trust me, buddy. It's my job to worry about you; I'm the older brother."

"That doesn't mean I can't look out for you sometimes," John countered. "And on that note, you left your history binder out on the kitchen counter. Don't forget it."

"Thanks bro," I said. "Is all your homework done?"

"Almost," John replied, looking off at the ceiling and inching back slowly towards his room. That was his guilt tell.

"John," I said slowly, trying to mimic the voice our mother used whenever one of us got in trouble, (which wasn't very often, but enough that we could use the voice.)

John sighed. "I promise it's only one worksheet," he insisted, disappearing into the room on the right side of the hallway.

"I do this because I care about you," I called after him.

"Uh-hu," John called back, sounding very unconvinced. I smiled to myself as I moved back into my own room. Tomorrow was Wednesday, but it wasn't just any old Wednesday. Tomorrow was the third to last official day of school before the annual assessment tests. That meant that teachers were going to be a little homework happy the next two as they wouldn't be able to give us any next week. But a little extra work wasn't too bad, and the assessment tests weren't really anything to be scared of; they were just really long exams that were meant to test if you'd learned everything you were supposed to. No big deal. But what was a big deal was the unofficial competition the students in each grade had to see who could get the highest scores on each test.

Hopefully these multiple alien attacks wouldn't become a usual occurrence. Not that I could really prepare for the assessment exams, as we had no idea what was even on them, but I didn't really want to spend the entire night before running around chasing aliens. And Danny rarely does his homework on a good day, let alone a day with one alien attack. I would hate to see his grade suffer from multiple nights of alien busting. Actually, my conscience would hate to let him copy my homework after multiple nights of alien busting. Either way, I hope that these multiple attacks end soon. And if there is an evil mastermind out there somewhere in the universe bent on taking over Earth, I hope that we find him soon and stop him before he sends more scouts who can actually cause some real damage.

…**Eh. **

**I'm not thrilled with this chapter. But remember what I said last chapter in my ending author's note? Yeah, remember that again now. This chapter is kind of only in here for that reason, so remember the little things. **

**As always, I'd love to hear your thoughts, so please press that magical blue button and share! **

**Read on!**


	3. Ch 3: Don't Burst My Bubble

**Hello dear readers! I apologize again for the wait between chapters! I hope to get on them a little faster. But to be honest, I'm at the only point in the story where I have no idea what to do. I have a middle, and an ending, and I had that beginning, but I don't know how to transition this one! So please bear with me as I trudge through this next chapter!**

**Enjoy!**

**Sam's POV**

"Daniel, if you don't sit down and get to work right now, I will have no choice but to take my notes back and you will have nothing to use but your own notes which we all know barely exist," I said in as even a tone as I could. I usually wouldn't get this frustrated over Danny putting off doing his homework. Tonight, however, I had way more homework than usual, and thus didn't have as much time to waste on telling Danny off for not working. And there was always something to be said for the extra frustration more homework brought to a person.

"Fine," the brunette boy grumbled, plopping down in his seat at the table. Mr. Smith was in the process of building a new weapon for us to use in battle: an enhanced stun gun that had the potential to paralyze victims for up to 24 hours. The only problem was that the poison needed in the gun had to be extracted from some of his feistier plants. It wouldn't hurt them too much, and the poison would only need to be run through the gun's system once, but that wouldn't mean that the extracting process wouldn't be difficult. So we'd decided to let the clubhouse alone for now, and had gone to Chris' house for homework instead.

"Has anyone started Mr. Bennet's worksheet yet?" Cathy asked, staring at the paper in front of her.

"Which question?" Chris asked in reply.

"Can I just compare them?" she asked, scooting her chair closer to his, so she could read his paper better. Chris let her have the paper and moved his attention back to his history book. We were able to exist in this state of academic silence for only about ten minutes before the familiar beeping of an alien alert interrupted us.

"Seriously?" Danny exclaimed, letting his pencil fall dramatically to the table. "This _would_ happen on our busiest homework night of the year. Typical."

"Save the attitude for the aliens," I replied quietly, shoving a slip of paper into my literature textbook to save the page before closing it. I quickly piled all of my things together before meeting the eyes of each of my team members. "We've got some busting to do."

The others begrudgingly nodded in agreement before getting up as well. As we started to make our way to the front door, a voice called over to us from the living room, "Where are you guys going?" We all jumped, whirling around to see who had caught us. Luckily, it was just John. He had his arms crossed over his chest and a very authoritative look in his eye. We'd appointed him as the official guard to make sure that we would stay on task.

"Duty calls," I answered, holding up my left wrist and tapping the v-com twice. John looked at me skeptically.

"We promise we're not skipping out on homework," Cathy added with a convincing smile. "And you're doing excellent at your job, by the way."

"Thank you, ma'am," John said with a nod. "And I'll let you all go this time, but hurry back. From the looks of it, you all have a lot of work ahead of you."

"We'll hurry," I answered as Chris opened the front door for us.

"Thanks John, you're the best," the bluenette said as the rest of us quietly filed out of his house. With a short wave back at his brother, Chris joined us on the front steps. It was already six p.m. and the light was starting to fade.

"The signal's coming from the center of town," Chris said, checking the reading on his v-com.

"Then let's get cracking before they can do any real damage," I replied. "Because if they really are here to take over the Earth, like the last couple guys have been, then they'll waste no time in claiming dominance over our town."

When we arrived at the center of town, fully suited up, we were already too late to stop any damage being done. The alien in question had begun to encase random things in giant, pink bubbles. Luckily, they'd only succeeded in capturing a few trees, a bench, and two lampposts, but most people weren't accustomed to seeing such gigantic bubbles out in the middle of town square. Glancing around quickly, I found our culprit preparing to fire a rather large blaster at a mailbox.

"HEY!" I called out, rushing forward as our alien turned around. A smile curved up its lips as I approached with my teammates following close behind. I stopped just feet away from it and held my blaster at the ready. "Just what do you think you're doing to our town?"

"Oh this? This is just a test run to find new ways to advance my master's plan," the alien answered with a hard edge to its voice. The creature was about our height, with indigo skin, four arms, a silver suit, a female voice, and three orange eyes. The smile never left her face.

"And are you going to tell us what that plan is?" Danny prompted carefully, blaster already out and aimed.

The alien laughed, a pretty sound like rain falling softly against a roof. "Of course I'm not going to tell you my plan!" she exclaimed. "Only fools do that, and it gets them no where in life."

"True that," Danny mumbled. I'm sure we were thinking back to just last night, when that hypnotist had found it a good idea to shout his plans to the world. Looks like we wouldn't be so lucky tonight.

"And I am no fool," the alien continued, her sly smile returning. "And that's why my master has sent me to carry out this phase of the plan, as well as to compromise the only roadblock to the operation." This is when she turned her blaster to face us. "And that appears to be you."

It took no more than two seconds for all heck to break loose. The alien fired her bubble beam at us at the same time Danny and I shot our blasters at her. The beams reflected one another, her beam capturing an innocent fire hydrant, and ours crashed through one of the pink bubbles encasing a tree. The bubble ruptured and an orange goo covered the branches of the tree and oozed down all around it.

"Ew," I heard Danny comment as we mobilized into action mode. The blue alien shot again, and we all dodged it. Cathy shot her blaster next, nicking the girl in the side. She recoiled slightly with a sharp cry, but was far from finished. Instead, she ran towards a bench, dodging out blasts, and made a swift backflip off the bench with a strong beam shot straight at me.

I had just enough time to leap to the side, colliding hard with the ground. I turned back just in time to watch the beam hit Danny unexpectedly from behind and encase him in a large pink bubble.

"DANNY!" Cathy cried from off to the left. I heard her blaster go off, and watched another shot hit out opponent's leg and send her falling to the ground as well.

"Come on, Sam," Chris said, suddenly appearing at my side and helping me up. I accepted his hand and got up quickly, preparing my own blast for the blue alien.

"Stop being so difficult!" she cried, lunged in a position to strike at any second. "You're ruining my mission!"

"That's kind of our job!" Cathy replied, shooting at her yet again. The creature bound out of the way and shot two beams at Cathy. The blonde dodged the first one, but was unable to catch her balance in time to dodge the second. A large, pink bubble formed around our alien friend.

"CATHY!" I exclaimed. The blue girl laughed again, still pretty but now with an edge of menace. I had had enough of her. "What do you want from us?"

"To get rid of you!" the alien replied harshly, aiming two more shots at Chris and I, we dodged them and blasted her back. She dodged as well. "You are currently the only thing in the way of my master's plans, and it is my job to contain you all, and no one will stop me!" I felt like an evil laugh should've accompanied that statement, but it didn't. Another shot from her blaster did.

"Chris, give it all you got!" I called over to my only teammate left.

"Don't worry, Sam! I've got a plan!" Chris called back. I was satisfied with that. Chris usually had great plans. And if he had a plan to get his crazy alien under control, I had full faith in him. I dodged another shot, and blasted back a few of my own.

"Sam, get her attention," Chris said, suddenly next to me before racing away to another side of the square. I watched after him for a second before jumping back into action.

"Who is this master of yours?" I asked her, dodging another shot behind a bush that magically turned into a bubble.

"Why would I tell you that?!" the girl exclaimed. "I thought I already explained that I was not your average, crazy minion."

"Yeah, you're totally sane," I replied, taking another shot at her. She side stepped my shot and prepared to aim at me again, but was frozen in her tracks by another blast. A thin sheet of ice covered her body. I looked to where the beam had come from and saw Chris pulling out his vacuvator.

"I told you I had a plan," he said before pulling the girl into a glass container. "Thanks for playing along."

"Anytime," I replied, moving over to him. "Now to burst all of our little friend's bubbles." I looked specifically at one that was holding one of my friends and shot a blast at the top of it. The bubble broke and Cathy fell to the ground covered in orange goo.

"Yuck!" she commented, shaking her hands to rid them of some of the goop.

"I know, I'm sorry. We can get you cleaned off after we get Danny out and burst the rest of these bubbles," I explained sympathetically. Cathy nodded, her body tense in discomfort. I turned quickly to shoot a few bubble out of the trees as Chris popped Danny's bubble.

"This stuff is disgusting!" the jock exclaimed, shaking his head around to get some of it out of his hair. I had to shield my face from getting hit.

"Hey! Say it, don't spray it," I said. "We'll unleash the garden hose on you guys when we get back to the clubhouse. But just let Chris and I finish popping this bubbles…" A slight beeping noise caught my attention at that moment. I turned around, looking all around for the source of the sound.

"Sam? What's wrong?" Cathy asked before freezing herself, having just heard the noise.

"What's that?" Danny asked. We all took a look around before a large purple beam exploded towards the sky. It disappeared in a matter of seconds, but it was up just long enough for Chris to find the source of the ray. There was a small, metal box lying on the ground behind some shrubs.

"Well that's peculiar," he commented, carrying it over to us. "Let's take it back for testing."

"Good plan," I replied. "Now let's get rid of the rest of these bubbles, find a way to get rid of the goo, and head back."

"I don't think you'll have to worry about the goo," Cathy said, pointing up towards the sky as dark clouds were rolling in.

"Great. More time to finish our homework!" I said in response, turning to shoot more bubbles. I heard Danny groan and tried to stop the smirk that curled on my lips.

**End chapter 3.**

**I've plotted out the rest of this story, so there's no way I'll be road blocked with lack of ideas this time. **

**Sorry again for the wait! I've been getting overloaded with new ideas for different things lately. **

**R&R please as I love to here from you!**

**Read on!**


	4. Ch 4: Lie Detector

**Hey readers! Back with another chapter!**

**I don't really have much else to say…**

**Enjoy! **

**Chris' POV**

"And then he shot it at a bird that was flying through the backyard, and BAM! It just fell to the ground, stiff as a board. It was so cool! And we should be able to use it on our next mission," Cathy finished explaining to me how her grandpa had finished the paralysis ray. "And by the way, he's also working on a teleportation machine that he could use some help on if you're interested."

"Yeah, sure! I'd love to help," I replied, twisting in my combination and opening my locker. "I can probably come after school, homework permitting."

"Understood," Cathy nodded, pulling out her pink history binder and shutting her locker with an unhappy slam. "Speaking of, do you think it'll be better or worse than last night?"

"Worse," I answered with a sigh, leaning back against my locker. "But the good news is that tomorrow night shouldn't be all that bad." Cathy nodded, her spirits crushed for the moment at the thought of tonight's work. I had to admit that I felt the same way. Luckily, Sam came strolling up to her locker with an unwelcome guest to change the subject.

"Oh, you think you're so smart, don't you?" Mark was saying as the pair moved over towards us. Sam moved straight on to her locker, twisting in her combination with an annoyed expression as though she were completely ignoring the blonde. But the way that her lips were pressed together, just barely concealing whatever words were churning up in her head gave away just how irritated she really was. "Just because you got higher grades than me last year on the annual achievement tests doesn't mean that you'll always be better."

"What are you getting at, Mark?" Sam asked, her voice clipped and controlled as she pulled a notebook out of her locker.

"I have a proposition for you, for all of you really," Mark replied, looking at me especially. "I'm actually going to leave it open for the whole class. I say we make a little game out of these tests. Whoever gets the best score wins."

"So basically Sam, Chris, and Jeremy win all?" Cathy asked innocently. Mark gave her a look. Sam cracked a smile.

"No. Because I'm going to score higher than all of them this year," Mark declared proudly.

"Says who?" Sam questioned, looking over at Mark for the first time. Sam wasn't one to step away from a challenge, even if it was with people she wasn't particularly fond of. "You didn't steal the test answers, did you?"

"No," Mark replied, sounding offended that Sam would even suggest such a thing. "I've just been studying up extra hard this year so that I can finally be recognized as one of the smartest kids in our class."

"Oh I see. You're aiming to get on the official board of achievement," I said, nodding towards the bulletin board at the end of the hall. The board was where everything of interest to students was posted. Football game schedules, drama club cast lists, school club info, and so much more got posted up on that board for the whole student body to see. Including grades from the annual achievement exams. The top scoring fifteen students from each exam were posted two weeks after the tests were finished.

"Maybe," Mark replied, averting his eyes from my gaze momentarily; a sure sign that I was right but he was denying it. "So are you in, or out?"

"Count me in. I'll take any opportunity to take you down," Sam responded confidently, her golden eyes gleaming like they always did when she was ready for a challenge.

"You're on," Mark said before sauntering off down the hall to his own locker. That kid would do anything for popularity. And to be honest, the top fifteen were only popular for a day, when everyone marveled at how smart you were. It wasn't that big of a deal. But leave it to Mark to make something more out of academic achievement.

"Gosh, I hate him," Sam mumbled, turning back to her open locker.

"Don't let him bug you. You're going to beat him on all the tests again just like you have every year in the past," I replied reassuringly.

"Oh I know. It's not that I'm scared to lose to him. I just can't stand him," Sam answered with a smile. I smiled back. Or at least I tried to before I caught sight of my best friend.

"Danny?" I asked, the shock evident in my voice as I stepped away from my locker and towards the brunette. "Are you okay?"

"Sure," Danny muttered, shuffling to his locker. He took a hold of the lock, but only stared at it like he didn't have the energy to open it and wanted it to pop open by means of telepathic communication. His skin was paler than usual, there were dark circles looming under his eyes, and his hair was lacking its usual spiky quality.

"Did you sleep at all last night?" Sam asked, sounding just as worried as I did.

"Not really. I still had to finish that math worksheet which took like five hours, and by the time I got home after that bubble mission, I felt like my head was being clawed apart by bears," Danny replied, giving up on the lock and resting his head against the locker. "And now the bears want to attack my throat too, and I can't get them to go away." Sam sighed, shaking her head.

"Oh! You poor thing," Cathy sympathized, her voice quieter than usual but nonetheless perky as she reached a hand out to stroke Danny's hair comfortingly. "How did that worksheet take you so long?"

"He was exaggerating, Cath," Sam said good naturedly as I took the liberty of keying in Danny's combination and opening the locker for him. "Just like he does before every big test." Sam had a certain look about her, like a mother waiting for her guilty child to spill the truth.

Danny turned to her with pleading green eyes. "I mean it this time, Sam," he replied, swallowing hard. "I really don't feel good."

"Uh-hu," Sam nodded. "Just like you meant it when you swore you had strep throat last year to get out of our big history exam. FYI, you still had to take it when you got back."

"Yeah, but I got a few extra study days," Danny countered before shaking his head and continuing, "But that's not the point! I wouldn't fake my way out of these tests!"

"Seriously Sam, there isn't a kid out there who would miss the annual achievement tests unless they absolutely had to," I added in my friend's defense. Sam looked at me, searching my eyes. "And also, the tests aren't till next week. If he was going to fake sick, he wouldn't start now." I had her there; she knew Danny's school avoiding strategies just about as well as I did. She sighed again.

"You're right. Danny, I'm sorry for not believing you in the first place," Sam said apologetically. "It's just happened enough in the past for me to be skeptical. And I thought that you were the kind of kid who would grab any chance to miss a day of school, and not come in when you weren't feeling up to par."

"I tried, but my mom wouldn't let me so close to achievement tests!" Danny insisted. And maybe it was how pitiful his voice sounded in that small plea, but we all dropped the matter at that and started off for class. I stole another glance at my friend's sorry state, and I knew there was no way he was lying this time.

"So, teleportation machine after school?" Cathy questioned, breaking the silence, with her hopeful blue eyes glancing over at me.

"Of course," I answered with a smile. There's nothing better than technology to get your mind off the stresses of life. And with those tests coming up soon, I knew life was about to get rather stressful.

**Shorter chapter!**

**So, foreshadowing and symbolism. Let's talk about it. Remember things. Little things, big things, random things, anything. You never know what might become something later. Or maybe some are obvious, but trust me, there are some things hidden in here that I'd like to say are gonna be very important later. Just keep your eyes peeled… And that sounds like a good talk for now!**

**Meh. I feel okay about this chapter. What do y'all think? Review pretty please? I do so appreciate your thoughts!**

**Read on, dear readers!**


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